The way you look at me
by StandardToast
Summary: Love is all that I can give to you


_L is for the way you look at me_

Crimson. Sakura eyes widened as the glare intensified. The pure _hatred _hit her like a shockwave. She felt her (stupid) tears running down her face.

His gaze softened slightly as crimson faded into black. As he crumbled to the ground, she shivered. Not because of the cold of the damp forest, but because of the one thing she thought she would never feel from her _Sasuke-kun._

Fear.

For so many years after, she became accustomed to_ those_ looks that he gave her. The fleeting moments, in which she would see him, he would turn his crimson eyes on her. And_ glare._ Naruto and her would freeze in fear at the sight of those eyes. How could someone who they love so much look at them like that, with so much hatred and loathing? He would leave, as quickly as he came, leaving her and Naruto to recover and stop that silly, (she told herself) _damned_ shaking.

But despite all of the times he had turned his bloodied gaze towards her, she had felt something. Not just fear, but something else. She tried to put her finger on it, but she just couldn't name it. It took the final time they met (because each time she saw him, she was meeting someone new) for her to figure it out. It was the intensity in his gaze that made her heart flutter; she knew he was figuring her out, considering her a threat, realizing that she was worth a part of his time_, for the first time ever._

He asked her, why she was still so blindly in love with him.

She laughed at the irony

"Because of the way you look at me"

_O is for the only one I see_

Despite popular assumptions that Sakura was ugly, foul and repulsive (oh, she knew the talk); she was still held in high regard of most of the male population of Konoha. The smiles she would get, the gazes that passed over her, the dinner invitations that were coyly sewn into a conversation, she let them pass over her without much thought. She had eyes for one man (boy) only.

She assumed it was a bit of fatal attraction on her part that made her love Sasuke so much. He had left her on a _bench_ without one kind word directed her way. His cryptic _thank-you, _by her standards, was not perceived as kind. Yet Sasuke still held a special place in her heart that no-one, not even Naruto, could replace.

As she flew into the tree behind her, she saw his sandaled feet rushing towards her. His scream became muted and she began to feel just so _heavy_. She saw his face fill her blurred vision. It was funny, she mused as she lay here on the ground, black slowly encroaching her vision, after everything she had gone through, Sasuke was still the only one she saw.

_V is very, very extraordinary_

The first time Sakura had seen Sasuke, was when they were back in the innocent days of childhood. She had been running from her tormentors, tears still streaming down her face, when she had swerved into a small forest. She continued to run blindly through the under-brush, when she saw a clearing up ahead. She slowed her pace and stopped just before the clearing stared. She gazed around, checking for signs of any potential harassers before continuing on.

"What are you doing here?"

Sakura gasped and whirled around to come face-to-face with a black-haired boy roughly the same age as her. Her eyes widened.

He was cuuute.

"Well, did you get lost; because my mom says that I have to help people when they are in trouble and since you're crying, I guess that means you're in trouble. And even though you are a girl, I guess I can help you out…"

She felt her cheeks start to burn bright red as he held out his hand. She took his hand and he began to lead her out of the forest.

"I come here all the time, to practise ninja stuff you know, since I wanna be just like my brother when I grow up. His name is Itachi, and he is really, really cool. He knows how to do all this awesome stuff like jumps and flips and whatnot. Anyway…why are you here?"

Sakura gulped and forced herself to whisper out a reply

"Well, I was getting chased by these mean girls, and so I…I ran into here to hide, but I ran into you instead"

"Oh. Ok…so would you like to go a different way out, cause I know girls can be really mean, and really annoying, actually more annoying than mean, but still mean. My mom says I just don't know the right girl yet, but I dunno what she is talking about, I already have one girl in my life who isn't annoying or mean, I don't see why I would need another mommy. But whenever I say that, she laughs at me and tells me I'll figure what she said out one day…"

Sakura stared at him, trying to keep up with what the talkative boy was spewing out. She nodded and uhuh-ed at random intervals. She gazed down and realized he was still holding her hand. She blushed a darker shade of red; meanwhile the oblivious little boy beside her was stilling rambling on.

The duo soon made it out of the small forest, meanwhile the little boy was stilling rambling about his family. Sakura coughed to get the boy's attention.

"Umm, now that we've made it out…I think it's time for me to go home..."

"Oh right, sure thing, I'll walk you to your house, since you know, according to my mom, that's what boys are supposed to do when they are with girls.

As the two shuffled towards Sakura's house, she felt a familiar sense of foreboding. She glanced behind her and saw what she had been dreading. Quietly making their way to the pair, were the banes of Sakura's existence. She gulped and tried to quicken her pace, but it was too late, just as she was about to tell the boy beside her to run, the group encircled them.

"Well, well, well, what is a freak like billboard-brow doing hanging around an Uchiha?"

Sakura gulped as she felt the intense glares of the four girls zone in on her. She was about to speak when the boy beside her beat her to it.

"Her forehead isn't thaaat big, I mean it is on the large side, but I think it suits her, you know, bigger brains, at least, that what my mom says. It's been nice chatting with you guys, but she is gonna to be late for dinner and her parents will get mad. My mom always says that dinner is family time, and well, with one family member missing, it isn't much of a family. So bye-bye"

Sakura stumbled after the boy as he strode off, her hand still clenched in his. When they got to her house, she shyly peered up at him and quietly said

"You know, you are very, very extraordinary"

_E is even more than anyone that you adore_

She felt a tug. She glared at the sensation, although it was hard in all this darkness and glaring at a sensation was always terribly hard. She felt it again.

Curses. Can't she just sleep in peace?

The sensation became stronger, until it became painful. Sakura soon began to hear sounds filtering through her ears. She strained to hear them. They sounded like voices. She giggled to herself, they sounded so funny, all high-pitched, oh no wait, low-pitched. The voices stopped and she began to sink back into the darkness. She was just so tired. There was suddenly a flash of light and an incredibly painful burning sensation.

Her eyes snapped open.

And she immediately regretted it. Her sight filled with blazing light. She quickly shut her eyes and groaned.

"Sakura…?"

She slowly opened her eyes again. She glanced to where the voice had come from. Attached to her hand was a very tired looking Sasuke. Her eyes almost bulged out of her head. Almost. She was soon surrounded in a very warm hug. She blinked, still confused.

Sasuke retracted from the embrace and came face-to-face with her. She blinked again. His eyes, his nice _black_ eyes bore into hers. Even without the Sharingan, she could feel him probing into her, looking for answers. He began to whisper, hesitantly at first, but his voice began to strengthen as he continued

"I'm so…sorry, for what he did to…you. I thought I could have…protected you…from what I had become, but it seems I overestimated myself. I am truly sorry for what he did to you. Someone like you doesn't belong here. As soon as you are fit for travel, I will escort you as far as I can…"

She smiled

"I am just glad that you are safe, Sasuke, and you can come back to Konoha with me now that Itachi is dead…"

The temperature in the room suddenly dropped. Sakura shivered from the cold, as well as from the look Sasuke was giving her.

"Do not speak to me of such things, Sakura. You have no idea of what you speak of. I will bring you your things and then we may leave, once you are ready."

As Sasuke turned to leave, Sakura spoke

"I know you have much more to do in your life before you come back to us. It's my wishful thinking, thinking you'd **ever** come back. But I will wait for you Sasuke. Just because everyone else has turned their backs on you, does not mean Naruto and I have. You will always have a home, not a house, with the both of us. We will wait for you, no matter what."

"Why must you still believe so blindly in me, when I have done so much harm to you?"

"Because that, Sasuke, is love"

_Take my heart and please don't break it  
Love was made for me and you_

_----------------------------------------_

A/N:Lyrics are from the song "L-O-V-E", preformed by Nat "king"Cole


End file.
